Anatomical Variations and Morphometry of Foramen Spinosum in Dry Adult Human Skulls-A Forensic Study

Background: Foramen spinosum is an important opening on the infratemporal surface of the greater wing of sphenoid bone and lies posterior to the foramen ovale. It transmits the middle menengial vessels and nervous spinosum. It can be identified both from the interior and exterior of the skull base.

Aim: To Understand the anatomy and Morphometry of the foramen spinosum in different skulls of South Indian population and to determine the exact range of measurement, the variations, asymmetry and inequality of size seen in foramen spinosum.

Materials and Method: Thirty dry skulls were examined for the foramen spinosum in the middle cranial fossa and at the extra cranial view at the skull base. The type of foramen spinosum will be classified according to its shape. The data were recorded and tabulated.

Results: The mean length of foramen spinosum was 2.534 ± 0.610 mm and the mean width was 2.36 ± 0.57 mm. Conclusion: The study showed variations in the size and shape and irregularity affecting the margins of the foramen spinosum.